Samsung to Release Bendable TVs in 2014 as Sales Stagnate

Joseph "Joe" Stinziano, executive vice president of home entertainment at Samsung Electronics America Inc., speaks during a news conference at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, 2014. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Bay, known for the “Transformers” films, was at the
International Consumer Electronics Show with Joseph Stinziano,
Samsung’s executive vice president for home entertainment, to
help pitch a 105-inch curved, ultra high definition TV. He lost
his way with a teleprompter, struggled to go on and then left.

“I got so excited to talk, that I skipped over the exec
VP’s intro line and then the teleprompter got lost,” Bay said
on his blog. “I guess live shows aren’t my thing.”

Samsung tapped Bay to promote its newest TVs as the Suwon,
South Korea-based company combats shrinking sales and stagnating
prices by focusing on ultra high definition screens. Samsung
also said it would stream games, movies and TV shows straight to
its sets, eliminating the need for consoles from Sony Corp. and
Microsoft Corp.

“We plan to release the bendable TV in the market in the
second half of this year,” Kim Hyun Suk, executive vice
president of Samsung’s TV business, said in an interview. He
didn’t elaborate on the price.

Tizen Software

Viewers can change the new set’s display from flat to
curved by touching a button, Samsung said in statement at CES,
where it’s displaying the concept model. Curved screens reduce
distortion when watched at an angle and make viewers feel
immersed in the picture, manufacturers say.

Samsung also plans to release a TV using the Tizen
operating system this year, Kim said without elaborating.
Samsung is partnering with Intel Corp. and other technology
companies to develop Tizen, which is meant for smartphones,
tablets and car systems.

Six of Samsung’s new TVs will feature a curved design,
ranging from 55 inches to 110 inches, and will be released in
the first half of this year.

Ultra high definition screens, which offer four times the
resolution of conventional displays, have struggled to gain
traction in the market because of a lack of content for the
format and higher prices.

Samsung today posted its first drop in operating profit in
nine quarters. Profit in the display division, which makes TVs,
probably fell 4 percent, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

Netflix, Amazon

The company expects new content deals to spur demand for
ultra-HD entertainment through pay-TV operators, Hollywood
studios and streaming services. Samsung’s partners include
DirecTV, Comcast Corp., Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. and Viacom
Inc., along with Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and M-Go.

The world’s biggest seller of smartphones and TVs will
initially offer 20 games on 2014 models with so-called 4K
resolution, the company said at CES.

“The content is just going to grow over time,” Stinziano
said in an interview. “We have the ability to give the consumer
more things that don’t cost more money.”

The Samsung game-streaming sets will be available starting
in April, according to the company. People who buy them will use
a remote or a USB controller to play a game, said Bill Dickey, a
senior manager in the TV division.

The company has struggled to profitably make sets using an
emerging display technology that’s slimmer and brighter, so it’s
boosting production of less-expensive ultra-HD screens, with 10
models set to debut this year.

OLED Technology

While Samsung is focusing on ultra HD to remain competitive
with Japanese and Chinese producers, the company remains
committed to organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, displays in
the long-term, Kim said.

Competitor LG Electronics Inc., the world’s No. 2 TV maker,
today announced its first flexible-screen set using OLED
technology. The screen size is 77 inches.

“We are the only player in the market who can possibly
mass produce OLED sets,” Skott Ahn, LG’s chief technology
officer, said in an interview at CES. “We will take the
initiative to bring the price down as fast as we can to an
affordable level.”

Global TV demand fell to 226.7 million units last year from
238.2 million the year before, according to IHS. This year,
demand will rebound to 229 million units, it said.

U.S. Economy

“The problem is OLED TVs aren’t convincing enough for
consumers to open their wallets,” said Jusy Hong, an analyst at
Englewood, Colorado-based researcher IHS Inc. “Until the real
flexible displays come into play, the new technology will battle
with LCDs at least for the next four-to-five years’ time.”

Worldwide sales of 4K sets, which cost about $2,000 to
$20,000, totaled 1.9 million, including 60,000 in the U.S.,
according to researcher DisplaySearch. Those are expected to
rise to 12.7 million and 554,000 this year, respectively.

Samsung, the world’s top TV producer for the past eight
years, sees the U.S. and Europe as key markets for new sales
this year as economies in both regions recover and demand
benefits from events such as the Winter Olympics in the Russian
resort of Sochi next month and the World Cup soccer tournament.

“The U.S. economy isn’t expected to be bad, while Europe
will also turn for better this year,” Kim said. “The overall
TV industry will grow with new technology releases and a lot of
upcoming sports events this year.”

Samsung maintained its top position with a 25.5 percent
share in the global flat-screen TV market in the third quarter
last year, while LG had 14.7 percent and Sony Corp. 7.5 percent,
according to DisplaySearch.